Benny and I thought is would be fun to dress silly and take pictures today. We did just that…too bad my pictures didn’t come out too good. Maybe next time.

We have a birthday party scheduled for next weekend. I tried out a vegan cupcake recipe this weekend and needed some taste testers. They are gone today, so I guess we are good to go!

I promised a little update on business awhile back, so I thought now would be a good time, as it is my last day of vacation. Without going into too much now…I am taking minimal amount of work over the next four months, they say this semester is a busy one.  Please, don’t hesitate to ask, if I am able to I plan on it. This will probably be one or two sessions a month…for my sanity I want to have most of my weekends off to spend time with my family.

In the meantime, I will keep brainstorming how I hope to make this little blog a bit different. I hope to continue with more personals post as I really enjoy blogging and it forces me to get the camera out daily.

Thanks for all the continued support!

♥ Rachel

day 08/366
“Mama will you play with me”…I hear these words often. I love to play little people with you so that is what we did.day 09/366
I love the way you sit on the bar stool with your little feet under your bottom. You are just not big enough yet to reach without a little boost.day 10/366
When it is just you and Mama at the dinner table we sometimes play games. We love Go Fish!day 11/366
I love this picture of you. Occasionally a posed picture is fun. Getting you to smile took some work though, you can be a stubborn one.day12/366
We had some good friends over to play and I decided to have you all work on some art projects. It was loads of fun! You painted a pig, rainbow, and an octopus. day 13/366
If you had your choice you would wear pajamas or sweats all day. It was after lunch and you finally decided to get dressed. day 14/366
Smoothies. You love them so much. The greener the better. You wanted this glass the last few trips to the store and since your birthday is right around the corner I finally bought it for you. Mama is glad you like your smoothies, because you are a picky one when it comes to green vegetables.

A typical Friday for us.
1. no bananas for smoothies, so some fresh squeezed OJ instead
2. sitting by the fire, checking emails and sipping OJ in my PJs
3. benny loves cartoons in the morning
4. saying goodbye to the husband
5. tv is off and now some play time (refusing to get dressed)
6. early lunch of sushi
7. benny is always animated at the table
8. lunch is complete and now for a “token”cookie
9. ready to get dressed
10. a little bit of art
11. drum lessons
12. hair cut for mom and benny
13. a picture to document it
14. time to get groceries, benny holding the shopping list and excited about his treat
15. fun at the local high school basketball game with friends
16. sweet dreams

Of course I left out a bunch, but bringing the camera into the bank, the post office among other places was not too exciting. As was photographing dinner on the road.

This is my fourth session with this sweet family. It has been so fun to see this little man grow. Enjoy the preview, it is a long one!

Today we had some friends over and I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring out the art supplies. This summer I organized my office into a craft, sewing, editing, and school room. We have everything easily assessable so we are able to do little activities like this without much effort. Of course, it was also a great opportunity for great pictures of some little Picassos.*Tip of the Day (not that I have ever had one before): A fitted sheet works great to lay down and protect the table. I bought this set and only needed the flat sheet for a backdrop, until today when it came into good use.

Benny’s birthday falls right after Christmas, which in my mind means he already has enough new toys. This is a perfect time to get new books. I decided to do another book party this year (we did one at two years), of course he will still have the joys of a fun of a birthday party but his gifts will be books (don’t worry Jeff got him a toy of his favorite action figure). He loves literature and has from a very young age. This summer we checked out numerous books from the library and I bought the ones that were our favorites. The Beatrix Potter Collection was a big hit. He has a few of her stories but this book is the complete collection and we read the whole thing this summer. I know he will be so excited when he opens this one. The drawing book, we did not check out but several like it and they were a big hit as well. There are a few more that I ordered yesterday and thanks to Amazon Prime (oh how I love thee) they will be here tomorrow.This book and its pictures are so beautiful and smells so clean and fresh. I love new books!Of course there were a few books for mom in the box too. I can’t say that I love them, but I will get very familiar with them. I have six days left of this glorious vacation. Then it will be back to the books. One last time.

I wanted to show some more images from a recent session. Some of my favorites…

day 01/366
I had asked you to clean up your kitchen (it was a big mess). You organized it to your liking and then began to clean and cut your vegetables for some soup. day 02/366
Eating and swallowing. The way you eat your food and swallow is very unique to you, and I am so happy I captured just that. day 03/366
For Christmas you received some games that will help you learn how to tell time. You were very excited to pick up on it so quickly and learn in a fun way.
day 04/366
When you get hungry you love to go grab a box of Joe’s O’s and eat right out of the box. I sneaked up on you and captured this image. I love how you are hiding behind the box while playing Legos. day05/366
When you shower you love to write your letters on the walls. Sometimes you have to reach far so you can make a big word or letter.day 06/366
Mommy had a meeting and we brought lots of activities to entertain you. You were building blocks, playing Angry Birds, watching Voltron, and eating a PB&J. You are quite the multi-tasker. When you eat your sandwiches you avoid the crust leaving a face full stickiness.
day 07/366
You were so excited to go to the pet store and get some new fishes for your tank. We had to replace one and got a second one just in case.